A Spanish national accused of conspiring to smuggle almost €60 million worth of cocaine into Ireland has lost an appeal against a High Court ruling refusing him bail.
“We really agree with the High Court judge that if granted bail, this defendant will not attend his trial,” said Judge Alexander Owens at the Court of Appeal on Thursday as he refused to grant bail to Raul Tabares Garcia (50).
Garcia, of Cadiz in Spain, was one of 10 men arrested by gardaí in March 2024 in the villages of Tragumna and Leap near Skibbereen in west Cork, where a jeep, camper van, articulated truck and rigid inflatable boat were seized as part of the investigation into a suspected drug smuggling operation.
After gardaí intercepted the vehicles, they discovered a large quantity of nautical equipment, including satellite phones, GPS devices, radios, control panels and wetsuits.
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A previous court sitting heard the ship with which the rigid inflatable boat had been attempting to rendezvous had passed an area in Denmark in mid-March 2024.
Cocaine weighing 840kg and valued at between €58 and €59 million was subsequently found washed up in that area. Garcia faces a charge of conspiring contrary to section 71 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 to import drugs worth in excess of €13,000 on dates between February 27th and March 14th, 2024.
In March of this year, he was refused bail at the High Court, with Judge Eileen Creedon ruling that as the accused man is a Spanish national with a history of significant travel outside the EU, he was “a serious flight risk”.
Creedon noted he had significant resources available should he wish to evade prosecution. She said this was a very strong circumstantial case with many strands, describing the operation as “a well-resourced and international endeavour”.
She also noted that seven co-accused had pleaded guilty and received sentences of between seven and 12 years.
In launching an appeal against the High Court decision on Thursday, counsel for Garcia, Kathleen Leader, said strong evidence and the man’s status as a non-Irish national did not mean bail should be refused.
She told the court Garcia had provided an address in Dundalk where his wife was living and at which he would reside, adding that someone with connections to the jurisdiction could act as surety for him when lodging cash bail.
To this, Edwards said: “This is a transnational organisation involved in significant drug trafficking. No matter what level of surety is put in place, they can probably afford to lose it.”
In delivering judgment, Owens said the court could see no error in principle by the High Court judge and no error in law. He noted the appellant was charged with a most serious offence and, if convicted, was likely to receive a substantial sentence.
“We really agree with the High Court judge that if granted bail, this defendant will not attend his trial. He has no connection with this country, good, bad or indifferent,” said the judge, rejecting the appeal.
The seven of the appellant’s co-accused who have already pleaded guilty were sentenced to a combined 70 years in prison last December.
They are Mario Angel Del Rio Sanz, of no fixed abode but from Spain; Anuar Rahui Chairi, of Malaga in Spain; Aleksandar Milic, with an address in Belgrade, Serbia; Kiumaars Ghabiri, with an address in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Pedro Pablo Ojeda Ortega, of Cadiz; and Angel Serran Padilla, of Malaga.
